Men Who Were Told No When They Proposed Are Sharing What Happened Next, And All I Can Say Is “Yikes”
Recently, Reddit user ChemicalHonest6400 took to the popular Ask Reddit page to ask: "Guys who were told 'no' during a marriage proposal, what happened next?"
I was reading through the answers and, um, wow. They range so broadly, I just had to share. So, without further ado, here are some of the best answers:
1."This didn't happen to me, but to my friend. He wasn’t told no; it was worse."
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“She said, 'Ugh, I don’t want to be one of those girls who say 'No.'
They did get married, but it didn’t last long."
2."She said no and moved out two months later."
"I fell into a depression. It's been a month and I'm starting to develop new routines and habits. I sure as fuck don't miss cleaning up after her, though. My house is so much easier to keep clean."
3."We had talked about marriage before. I told her I wasn’t ready just yet and thought we weren’t ready just yet, and we should wait a bit."
"She said that if I didn’t want to marry her there were plenty of guys she'd be able to find who would...
I proposed on our next vacation a few weeks later. She said, 'I’m not sure' at the exact moment when I got down on a knee and gave her the ring. Then she said yes. Then she said, 'I’m not sure' again a couple of hours later. Then we went to sleep, and the next morning, she said yes again.
Cut to us calling off the wedding three months before the date. In hindsight, I probably should have called it off immediately at the time of the proposal."
4."We were in New Orleans. When I pulled the ring out of my pocket at City Park, she said, 'Don’t you dare. The kids have been dicks all day, I'm sweaty as hell, and there's trash everywhere.'"
"The next day, we went out to dinner. Halfway through the dinner she got down on one knee and pulled out a ring of her own. She'd turned me down because SHE was planning to propose the next day.
We’ve been married for a year and a half now."
5."We were on a cross-country trip, moving back to the west coast. Our last stop of the trip was in Las Vegas."
"From our hotel window, we could see one of those little chapel places. I asked her (half kidding) if she wanted to go get a 'quickie marriage' before the trip was over. She refused with a fair amount of snark. An hour later I took the ring out of my suitcase and asked for real.
So technically, she said no before she said yes."
—u/petchiefa
6."Not me, but our hot air balloon pilot told a great story about a guy who rented out the entire balloon for the proposal, even managing to bring along a photographer as his 'best friend from out of town.'"
"Midflight, he got down on one knee and proposed; she looked horrified and FLUNG the engagement ring over the side.
All caught with photo proof. Very quiet return trip and no tip, per the pilot."
"That one sounds like it could be a bit of a hustle by the pilot. Gives you an entertaining story while also subtly reminding you to tip."
7."She tells me no every single time I ask. Always uses some bullshit excuse like, 'We're already married,' or 'It's our anniversary!'"
8."We talked, she realized I was actually serious, and she said yes."
9."She spent the next few weeks trying to find every reason to get out of the relationship. We tried one therapy session, and I found out shortly after she was having an 'emotional affair.' Her words."
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"She dumped me, I asked her to leave. She left two dogs, one with high support needs and the other 12 years old and incontinent. Never heard from her again unless it was to get her money out of the mortgage."
—u/leprosy4444
10."We broke up within 24 hours."
11."I returned the ring to the store I bought it from. They needed a reason to input in the system for the return. I said, 'She said no.'"
"We broke up a short while later. What's wild is she asked if she could keep the ring."
12."I proposed. She said yes. Two weeks later she broke up with me."
"I ran into her at a restaurant about two years after we broke up. The guy she dated after me abused her physically and mentally. I asked to see her again and she said no. :(
This was 20 years ago. Still stings a little bit.
I stalk her on Facebook from time to time. She’s single with cats. Still beautiful. Was an amazing partner so not sure why she never got hitched.
My story has a happy ending: my current wife is amazing. We talked marriage before popping the question. She sent me three ring options. I surprised her with the proposal, the ring, and the kind of diamond."
13."I proposed when I was 22 because I wanted to be a somewhat young father to be more active during my kids' childhood. She said no, and I thought my world was over."
"Fast forward seven years and I met my current wife. Today, we have a teenage son and a great life.
I’m pretty sure if the girl at 22 said yes, we’d have divorced not long after (just looking back at what I thought our relationship was vs. what it actually was) and life would’ve been much different for me, likely worse off."
14."I asked her after three years of being together. We had previously talked about marriage and I had bought a measuring tool to get our ring sizes because neither of us wore jewelry. She was part of that whole process."
"I ordered the rings, waited a few weeks, and proposed in her apartment. She said she wasn’t sure because we hadn’t even been living together and we were both still in university.
So I was heartbroken, but it just wasn’t the right timing. When we eventually did move in together, I asked her again on a trip to Bruges, and she said, 'Yes, now blow out the damn candles; the smoke alarm's gonna go off.' We got married in August 2023."
15."Asked two more times. We've been married 40 years this year. Have two sons and two grandchildren."
16."I returned the ring. The worst part was having to explain to the salesman she said no. It turned out to be for the best."
"She got married quickly to another guy and had less than a good life for 20 years. Somehow, we still kept in contact for 10 years and fought about our issues like they had just happened.
Something happened one day, and we aired it all out and finally put it behind us. She’s now a close friend, getting divorced from the guy she said yes to, only I’m not interested in her like that. Love taking jabs about it with her, lol.
Having still known her all this time, I’m glad she said no; I would have had a miserable life as far as marriage goes. She’s been a great friend though."
17."She actually said yes, but changed her mind within 24 hours and we broke up. That was an awkward flight home, let me tell you."
18."I dated a girl who was really persistent about us getting married. She would talk about it constantly. She often showed me engagement rings she liked."
"I'm not going to say it wasn't tempting. She was extremely attractive. Then she went off birth control without telling me. She asked me why she wasn't pregnant. During my next physical, I found out I had cancer.
At first, she said all the right things. A week later, I came home and found she'd moved out. I'm still here, but fortunately, she's all gone."
—u/moto0392
19."30 years ago, I proposed. She said 'no.' We stayed together for five more years."
M Swiet Productions / Getty Images, Yuliia Kokosha / Getty Images
"She went on a girls' trip to Mexico, came back, and was completely off. I broke it off because I knew what 'it' was.
Some years later I saw her at a wine festival. She was married, so was I. She hugged me and told me she still loves me. I laughed and walked away to be with my wife and kids."
20.And finally: "I was once told no by a girl who thought I was going to propose when I had no intention to."
Let me know what you think down below — even better if you have your own story to share!
Or, if you want to share but prefer to stay anonymous, feel free to check out this anonymous Google form! Who knows — your answer may be included in an upcoming BuzzFeed article.
Note: some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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